Jan Rebel Pilot is Back

I am back to blogging. I haven't written a thing since April 14th according to this blog. We had a nice long vacation from April 17th until April 26th to Utah with the Rebel and the Lazy Daze.

We started our vacation on Friday April 17th by attending the RV Rally in Albuquerque at the Fairgrounds (aka Expo NM). It was a good Rally for us as we got to talk to some of the vendors - in particular, we are interested in satellite internet for on the road, a big priority for us. That way I can keep blogging as well as check the weather for flights and driving and of course, keep in touch via email. We also saw a friend Perry Pahlmeyer. Last fall, we spent a few days with Perry and his friends at Hanksville Airport. Perry and his friends have powered parachutes - a fun way to view the world from aloft. We have also seen Perry at Bluff Airport too.

Our intent was to drive the Lazy Daze and fly the Rebel to Grants Airport on Friday, but the weather turned wintery and stormy. In fact, we had snow on April 17th in the northern part of the state. We delayed our departure until Sat. Apr 18th. Even then, we had to change our drive and flight plans a little. I decided to drive the LD as the weather looked a bit iffy to me, but fine for Mike. So he flew, delaying his take off a little. For me - my drive was to go up 550, but it was snowy and probably icy. I drove I-40 to 371 to Farmington and then 491 to the usual road we take to Blanding.

Mike got really lucky with his photography - he took a photo of Cabazon and one of its sister peaks, snow capping the peaks just as if someone sprinkled powdered sugar all over the peaks. Awesome photo. If I can get a small enough photo, I will add one to this blog. It is on his disk somewhere.

After a wintery start to our vacation, we were able to enjoy a beautiful week of flying out of Hanksville for early morning and late afternoon photo-flying and a few days of Capitol Reef camping, hiking, and mountain biking (Mike only). I got to have a turn at flying the Rebel all by myself when I flew it from Blanding to Hanksville while Mike drove the LD to Hanksville.

This is kind of rambling, but just had to put something in - I have also missed a few ABC Weds and really enjoy doing that. I will catch up next week (maybe).

But - busy travels continue --- we have friends coming from the east on their way to Monument Valley where we will join all for the 5th or 6th Annual unofficial Kolb fly-in (May 14-17). This year, it seems everyone is flocking (flying or driving) to MV. Tomorrow, we will be hosting some flyers (very extraordinary flyers) who will probably be stopping at MV (Arty Trost and Randy Simpson. They flew their ultralight aircraft all the way to Florida from Oregon in March for Sun 'n Fun Fly-in at Lakeland and now they are on their way home. See Arty's blog at http://www.lessonsfromtheedge.com/b2evolution/blog1.php. We have been tracking their flights using their Spot Shared pages. They landed somewhere west of Tucumcari today and plan to fly here to E98 tomorrow.

Next week, we will be hosting around 5 or 6 more pilots who will be flying to MV as well. John Hauck is the lead guy for this gaggle. The pizza will be on for all those that make it to our place on Weds, May 13. They depart for MV on Thurs. May 14. Then we depart on Friday May 15.

I will be at MV until Sun May 17. Mike is going to continue with John H and the rest on to Oregon where they will be visiting famous locations such as the Rock House, Alvord Desert, and enjoying the hospitality of Larry and Karen Cottrell (who will also be at MV). What a busy bunch of folks.

The MV fly-in should attract a variety of aircraft, Kolbs, Cessnas, Rans (ours), Carrera (Randy), Drifter (Arty), a Flight Design CT (I think), and more! What fun it will be to see friends from all over the country gathered together at MV. I will try to get some photos.

This is it from here - gotta make supper now...